good morning, everyone. welcome to today on a sunday, i m lester holt. and i m jenna wolf. and what a difference a week makes in the world of politics. we were in such a different place a week ago. looked like romney could run the table. now you look back and we ve had three winners of the first three contests. we re going to be in this for awhile. newt gingrich pulled out a big win in south carolina. now rewriting his political playbook. just a couple weeks ago mitt romney was expected to wrap up the nomination with a victory in south carolina. now the race seems wide open. we re going to get reaction to saturday s primary and look at what s next for the gop candidates as things get very, very interesting. then, as mentioned we re going to head to pennsylvania to get the latest on former penn state head coach joe paterno. the 85-year-old is said to be in serious condition after experiencing health complications while battling lung cancer. paterno s family says he s i
whether changing those rules could save lives. captioning sponsored captioning sponsored by cbs elles is the cbs evening news with scott pelley. pelley: good evening. pelley: good evening. mitt romney has just found out that you can t count on anything in politics, not even the elections you win. today iowa republicans took away his victory in the caucuses, and his lead heading into saturday s disary in south carolina has thinenly disappeared. look at how quickly things have changed. in a poll taken the day after se iowa caucuses, romney was far ahead in south carolina, 31% to newt gingrich s 24%. but in that same poll today, gingrich leads by one point, a statistical tie. gingrich picked up the endorsement of texas governor rick perry. perry ended his campaign today after polling in single digits. dean reynolds is following the hast-changing race in north dearleston. dean? reporter: scott, aides to the ourmer speaker say that without ng dtion his rebound in the polls
when he needed it most. giving him an opportunity that seemed beyond his reach only days ago. if we can win here, i will become the republican nominee because south carolina does have a huge impact. reporter: it was in monday s debate that gingrich brought the audience to its feet with an answer that was quickly turned into a gingrich ad. i m going to continue to find ways to help poor people learn how to get a job, learn how to get a better job and learn some day to own the job. reporter: but personal character raised repeatedly in ad as tacking him is an issue that won t go away. today gingrich s second wife, marianne, told the washington post that he had once asked her for an open marriage, so he could date other women. she claims his request came in the midst of an affair with the woman who is now his third wife. a supporter at a rally today told gingrich he was troubled by character questions and gingrich answered the way he has the entire campaign. i think t
his room to get his violin and never came back. the ship s captain, francesco schettino, remains under house arrest facing possible charges of manslaughter and abandoning ship. but he s quoted in an italian newspaper saying he didn t leave on purpose. he now says he tripped and fell into a lifeboat which hauled him to safety while passengers and crew members fought for their lives. this video could support one part of schettino s story. it appears to show the same boat in august passing even closer to giglio island. schettino says he was following the planned route, but the cruise company blames him for deliberately steering off course. when divers are able to go back to the ship, they ll be up to their shoulders in dark water and debris. the grim reality, they re no longer looking for survivors. though in minnesota relatives of jerry and barbara heil are still praying for a miracle. officials are now saying 21 people are listed as missing and that includes the heils.
note on that. also, those two americans still listed are jerry and barbara heil of minnesota. hundreds of family members and friends came together last night for a prayer service right there at their church. they were called a couple who was devoted to charity. their granddaughter simply asked for prayers. dallas-based attorney general judith kenny says she is embarrassed and mortified, but it s a little more serious than that. she is also facing felony charges for boarding a plane with a gun in her carry-on bag. kenny says she forgot it was there. the question is how was she even able to get past security screeners? here s abc s lisa stark. reporter: it was a mad scramble at the dallas-fort worth airport after security screeners spotted a gun in a carry-on computer bag. by the time security agents went to pull the bag, it was gone, and so was the passenger. officers pulled security tapes to pinpoint the passenger and fanned out across all five terminals, shutting down